1.12.2016

Fresh Off The Boat teams up with Panda Express

This is really weird, yet actually kind of makes sense. ABC's Fresh Off The Boat and fast food chain Panda Express are joining up for an exclusive partnership to promote the show and celebrate Chinese New Year.

Beginning this week through February 3, Panda Express restaurants across the country will display special branded Fresh Off the Boat Chinese New Year Posters and table tents featuring the Huangs.

That's right. If you step into a Panda Express location, you might just see Hudson Yang or Constance Wu's faces plastered on that little cardboard table tent, sitting next to your glistening plate of orange chicken.

Panda Express has over 1,800 locations around the world. This marks the first time that the chain has teamed up with a network television. I suppose it's brand-appropriate that it turned out to Fresh Off The Boat.

I'm curious about what Eddie Huang, who's bestselling memoir inspired the show, thinks of this collaboration. The bombastic chef/restaurateur/food personality made headlines last year after criticizing the show for being inauthentic, but has recently expressed that he's made peace with it.

Fresh Off The Boat will air an all-new Chinese New Year-themed episode on Tuesday, February 2.

In "Year of the Rat," the Huangs are getting ready to celebrate Chinse New Year with their family in Washington, D.C. But a mix-up with their plane tickets forces them to spend the holiday in Orlando. Scrambling to find other Asians to celebrate with, they stumble upon the Asian American Association of Orlando, which is hosting a less-than-authentic interpretation of a Chinese New Year celebration.

Whoa, wait. Could this be the first Chinese New Year-themed episode of a network television show? Maybe?